Wright made a pretty convincing statement in that regard on Sunday, as a large part of his career day came at the expense of Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson – the fifth overall selection in the 2011 draft and a 2012 Pro Bowler.

Overall, Wright set career highs with 12 catches and 150 yards. According to Pro Football Focus, Wright caught six of those passes – for 96 yards — while being defended by Peterson. The only time he failed to make a catch when defended by Peterson was when Wright dropped a ball.

“He’s a competitor. Every day he competes to get better,” Munchak said. “He challenges guys like Justin (Hunter), Nate (Washington), Damian (Williams) — all that crew, every day — to be the best receiver and player. He’s contagious that way, which is why we’re so happy for his success.

“As far as how he’s playing, he feels he can beat anybody. He thinks no one can cover him. He has a lot of confidence and you’re seeing it show up. He’s just going to continue to get better and better at what he does.”

A few statistical nuggets regarding Wright’s numbers:

The 12 catches against Arizona were one shy of the franchise record. That mark of 13 is held by several players, most recently Drew Bennett in 2004.

The 150 yards were the most by a Titan in a single game since Jared Cook’s 169-yard performance against St. Louis in Dec., 2011.

Wright’s 85 catches are the most by a Titan in a season since Derrick Mason posted 96 in 2004.

Wright now has 1,007 receiving yards, becoming the first Titans receiver to top the 1,000-yard plateau since Washington did so in 2011.

The event is scheduled from 7:30-10 p.m., and tickets are $75 per person and $25 for children 14 and under.

A large number of former players are scheduled to attend, including Eddie George, Kevin Dyson, Blaine Bishop and Brad Hopkins, along with current players such as Jake Locker, Marc Mariani, Matt Hasselbeck, Brett Kern, Michael Griffin, Rob Bironas, Kenny Britt, Will Witherspoon and Lavelle Hawkins.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2012/12/07/mason-hosting-homecoming-event-monday/feed/0Retiring Mason makes it clear where his heart lieshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2012/06/11/retiring-mason-makes-it-clear-where-his-heart-lies/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2012/06/11/retiring-mason-makes-it-clear-where-his-heart-lies/#commentsMon, 11 Jun 2012 22:21:38 +0000JOHN GLENNON, The Tennesseanhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/?p=19598Derrick Mason spent more years with the Titans than with the Ravens, totaled more receiving yards and touchdown catches here than in Baltimore, and also set an NFL record while in Tennessee. But Mason clearly feels more connected to the Ravens than he does to the Titans, a fact that was made apparent Monday when he signed a ceremonial one-day contract with Baltimore – not Tennessee – to retire from the NFL.

“My heart was here (in Baltimore),” Mason told media members in Baltimore. “Tennessee is a good place. It’s a great place. They gave me an opportunity to start my career. For that, I will always thank the brass there. But my heart was here. You can’t do something somewhere else when your heart is in another place. It was an easy choice for me.”

A glance back at some of the big NFL names who signed one-day, retirement contracts over the years — Brian Dawkins, Jerry Rice, Torry Holt, Emmitt Smith and Joe Montana – shows that they chose to go out as members of their original teams.

But in all of those cases, the players spent the vast majority of their respective careers with the first team before playing a couple of years elsewhere. That wasn’t the case for Mason, who played eight years with the Titans and six with the Ravens before splitting a final season between the Jets and Texans.

Still, one could definitely make a case that Mason’s best years were with the Titans, where he caught 453 passes for 6,114 yards and 37 touchdowns. He also set an NFL total-yardage record of 2,690 yards in 2000 with the Titans, the same year he went to his only Super Bowl. In comparison, he caught 471 passes for 5,777 yards and 29 touchdowns during his years with the Ravens.

It’s easy to think Mason might still hold a grudge against the Titans, who cut him as part of a salary-cap purge in 2005, despite the fact he’d put together a 96-catch, 1,168-yard, seven-touchdown season in 2004. At that point, Mason had become the first Titans wide receiver to record four straight 1,000-yard seasons.

Then again, the Ravens cut Mason last summer, despite the fact he was coming off a season of 61 catches for 802 yards and seven touchdowns. That didn’t seem to matter on Monday, when Mason sang the praises of the Ravens and the city of Baltimore when he officially hung up the cleats.

“There are not too many places you can go and be embraced the way the city of Baltimore embraced me,” Mason told Baltimore media. “I will be forever indebted to this city. The decision wasn’t hard to retire, and then the decision where to retire was just as easy because like I said, my heart was (in Baltimore). It never left. My body left, but by heart stayed right in these rooms.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2012/06/11/retiring-mason-makes-it-clear-where-his-heart-lies/feed/0Mason on verge of NFL milestonehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2011/10/19/texans-mason-on-verge-of-nfl-milestone/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2011/10/19/texans-mason-on-verge-of-nfl-milestone/#commentsWed, 19 Oct 2011 15:53:28 +0000JOHN GLENNON, The Tennesseanhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/?p=16605Titans fans are likely to see former Titans star Derrick Mason reach yet another career milestone on Sunday at LP Field. He needs one catch to pass Hall of Famer Art Monk for the 11th-most receptions in NFL history. Mason, 37, made three catches in his first game with the Texans last week, giving him 940 for his career.

The Texans picked up Mason in a trade from the Jets after losing Andre Johnson to a hamstring injury.

“(He practiced) two days last week and he went in and made three pretty significant plays in a week,” Texans Coach Gary Kubiak said. “I was pleased with how much progress (he made). It’s something we’ve been battling with the loss of Andre and (tight end) James Casey last week, so we have some adjustments to make. Derrick will be with us all week, so we’ll be able to make even more progress and hopefully he’ll continue to be a factor in what we’re doing.”

Mason hasn’t faced the Titans since a divisional playoff game following the 2008 season, when he produced five catches for 78 yards and a touchdown to help Baltimore upset Tennessee 13-10.

Mason has at least 60 catches for the past 11 seasons, and if he hits those numbers again this year, he’ll move up at least to ninth on the NFL’s all-time receptions list. He needs 12 catches to bypass current No. 10 Andre Reed and 15 to bypass current No. 9 Randy Moss.

One other tidbit on Mason: He’s the last active player in the league who was with the Titans when the team moved to Tennessee in 1997.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2011/10/19/texans-mason-on-verge-of-nfl-milestone/feed/0Titans lose out on Mason, eye Cotcheryhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2011/08/06/titans-lose-out-on-mason-eye-cotchery/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2011/08/06/titans-lose-out-on-mason-eye-cotchery/#commentsSat, 06 Aug 2011 22:16:26 +0000JOHN GLENNON, The Tennesseanhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/?p=14805The Titans lost one of their top free-agent receiver targets on Saturday, when former Titan Derrick Mason signed with the Jets. But GM Mike Reinfeldt said the Titans are still in the market for a veteran wideout.

One of the top candidates remaining is former Jets receiver Jerricho Cotchery, who asked for his release last week. Cotchery didn’t pass the Jets’ physical at the start of camp because of a back injury, but was reportedly close to returning to practice when he was released.

A seven-year NFL vet who has spent his entire career with the Jets, Cotchery caught 41 passes for 433 yards and two touchdowns last season. He caught 82 passes in both 2006 and 2007, dipping to totals of 71 and 57 in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

The 6-foot, 203-pound Cotchery has received high praise from teammates for his character and leadership, traits which the Titans are looking for with several young receivers on the team.

“I still think we’d like to do a veteran wide receiver,” Reinfeldt said. “(Cotchery’s) someone that’s interesting for us. He’s been productive and a good player with a good team.”

Titans GM Mike Reinfeldt said Friday he’d be open to bringing on board a veteran wideout, one who might be able to provide leadership for youngsters Kenny Britt, Damian Williams and Marc Mariani. But wide receiver Nate Washington isn’t so sure the Titans need to make such a move.

“I don’t know — I think we have a lot of guys right now that are good, but that will be up to management,” Washington said. “I’m not going to say we do or we don’t need a guy right now, but we have a lot of guys here right now that have a lot of potential.

“If Mike Reinfeldt feels that, there must be a need. (But) the management isn’t what we’re here to deal with … If they bring in another guy, we’ll continue to work with him. If they don’t, then we have to continue to get better so we can be at our best this season. I don’t think right now we can get really too (concerned) about who’s next to us or who’s coming in or who’s not.”

Reinfeldt never mentioned former Titan Derrick Mason by name on Friday, but a lot of the qualities Reinfeldt described in a potential wide receiver addition could be applied to Mason.

What would Washington think about the 14-year veteran coming on board?

“Mace worked out with us at Father Ryan and he’s a good guy,” Washington said. “I really respect the things he’s done in this league. He’s been in this league for a very long time. I’ve watched his routes and I’ve watched his celebration leg kicks for the longest time.

“He’s one of the guys that come into this league not to talk, but to work. He’s very reputable about the things he done. If he does come in, we’ll be excited to have him. If not, we understand the situation that we’re in. We have a good corps right now. We’re all ready and willing to get better together.”

Mariani has returned 51 kicks for 1,313 yards, a 25.7 average. The record holder is Bobby Jancik, who returned 45 kicks for 1,317 yards (29.3) for the Houston Oilers.

On a larger scale, Mariani is on pace to set a franchise record for combined punt- and kickoff-return yards. His combined total is 1,634 yards, second only to Derrick Mason’s 1,794 in 2000. Mariani has already passed the one-year totals of players including Mel Gray, Billy “Whiteshoes” Johnson and Adam “Pacman” Jones.

Mariani said he “had no idea” he was that close to the records: “I know what that entails. I know that one of the best ever was here, Billy “Whiteshoes” Johnson, and Derrick Mason, too. To be on the same list with those two and be even in the same sentence is pretty special. I could never have expected that, but I’m definitely grateful to have this opportunity.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2010/12/24/mariani-closes-in-on-franchise-records/feed/2Ravens working to retain Derrick Masonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2010/02/27/ravens-working-to-retain-wr-mason/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2010/02/27/ravens-working-to-retain-wr-mason/#commentsSat, 27 Feb 2010 20:01:31 +0000JIM WYATT, The Tennesseanhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/?p=5194INDIANAPOLIS Ravens receiver Derrick Mason’s contract expires soon, but it looks like the former Titan might stay put in Baltimore. Ravens Coach John Harbaugh said he’d like to re-sign Mason, who has indicated he’d like at least a two-year deal or he might retire.

“Both sides are really interested in bringing back Derrick,’’ Harbaugh said. “Derrick has let everybody know what he is interested in, but that is a good place to start. We are interested in Derrick for more than one year, no doubt, he can still play. He is 36 years old but he is not physically. As long as he can play we want him to be a Raven, and I am pretty confident we’ll be able to get something done.’’

Mason, who made a name for himself in the NFL with the Titans and has played the past four seasons with the Ravens, last month said he planned to retire. But he showed up at Ravens camp on Saturday morning and said he’s ready to go.

Derrick Mason with Titans in 2004

“It was a tough decision, but I think it was a good decision for me to come back,” said Mason, according to the team’s web site. “I needed to evaluate my life, football and my career. The last several weeks thinking about it and talking with my family was an important time for me and them.

“I still have an intense fire inside me, and I want to play. My family and I wanted to finish it out the right way. I felt like I had left something undone, and I wanted to finish it. I believe this is a good example for my son and my daughter on how to be thoughtful and also follow through.”

Mason was especially close to former Titans quarterback Steve McNair, who was also a teammate in Baltimore. Mason informed team officials he wanted to retire just a day after McNair’s funeral in Nashville last month.

From the outside looking in, Mason took McNair’s death hard, which led to his initial decision to walk away. Some soul-searching led to his change of heart.

Judging from his performance last season, he certainly has some good years left in him. Mason led the Ravens with 80 catches for 1,037 yards last year and scored five touchdowns.

“I wanted to make sure that when I do retire, I won’t have any regrets,” Mason said. “As I’ve thought about this and talked about this with my family, I realized I would have regrets if I didn’t come back.

“I think I’m in great shape. I have been working out, and I was part of the offseason program. I’m ready to get out there with my teammates.”